Tropical Storm Danielle Update
August 22, 2010
![[Image of 5-day forecast and coastal areas under a warning or a watch]](http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT06/refresh/AL0610W5_NL+gif/203013W5_NL_sm.gif)
Tropical Storm Danielle formed in the Atlantic Sunday afternoon, and forecasters now say it will become a hurricane by late Tuesday.
The National Hurricane Center said the fourth named storm of the 2010 season was over the eastern Atlantic, about 725 miles from the southernmost Cape Verde Islands. But there is good news in the forecast — the Hurricane Center calls for the storm to make a northwesterly turn into the Atlantic, far from the United States.
The latest information on the storm is in the graphic above.
Special Section: Complete Back To School Info
August 22, 2010
School starts Monday in Escambia County, and we have the last minute information you need to know, including start times, school supply lists, lunch prices, bus routes, information on free and reduced price lunches and health requirements.
Click a link to visit that story.
- School Start Times
- School Lunch Prices
- Free And Reduced Lunch Guidelines
- School Lunch Menus
- School Supply Lists
- School Bus Routes
- Health Requirements
Teachers Get Ready For First Day
August 22, 2010
School bells ring Monday in Escambia County. Teachers returned to class last week to make sure everything was ready for the big first day. Pictured: Ernest Ward science and math teacher Michelle Thomas (top), Ernest Ward family and consumer science teacher Kathleen Ellis and Byrneville Elementary School first grade teacher Candi Thorton worked hard Friday afternoon to complete preparations for the start of school. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hendrix, Williams To Wed
August 22, 2010
Mr. and Mr. Russell L. Hendrix, Molino, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Leslee Faye, to Mr. Jordan Williams of Pensacola.
The bride-elect is a graduate of Tate High School and Florida State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Secondary English Education. Leslee is a teacher at Tate High School.
The prospective groom is a graduate of Pine Forest High School and Pensacola Junior College where he earned his Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing. Jordan is a Registered Nurse at Baptist Hospital. He also serves as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserves and recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.
They will be married November 6, 2010, at Flamingo Road Church in Pensacola.
Panhandle Republicans Like What Scott Is Saying
August 22, 2010
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott was in Escambia County Saturday, one of several stops in the Panhandle. His first campaign stop was at The Coffee Cup in Pensacola to meet with dozens of supporters.
If resident Leon Delikat is any indication, Attorney General Bill McCollum’s focus on Rick Scott’s history with Columbia Healthcare/HCA in their contentious primary for the Republican gubernatorial nomination will not carry McCollum to victory Tuesday.
Delikat said there have been so many charges in the harsh GOP primary that it is hard to determine which ones to believe.
“In today’s climate, you don’t know what’s true and what’s not,” he told the News Service of Florida after listening to a roughly 10 minute speech Scott gave to about 150 people Saturday.
McCollum has focused in television commercials and on the stump on Scott’s tenure as CEO of Columbia Healthcare/HCA, which was investigated for Medicare and Medicaid fraud and paid more than $1.7 billion to settle civil suits and in fines. As Scott spoke Saturday, two McCollum supporters – one dressed in medical scrubs, another in prison stripes – walked through the crowd holding signs referencing a Scott deposition in a lawsuit filed by a former employee of another of his companies, Solantic.
Scott has said he takes responsibility for mistakes that were made at Columbia and he said he will not release the deposition, calling it a “private matter.” McCollum has accused him of hiding the truth.
The attacks have not swayed Delikat.
“The government has got all the regulations of all these hospitals, so you can (not) be aware of things that are going on with your paperwork and all that stuff and you could end having to pay fines like a lot of other people in every industry,” he said.
McCollum’s ads may not have turned Delikat against Scott, but a recent Scott ad criticizing McCollum seemed to work with another resident who came to hear the Naples businessman speak Saturday. Explaining why he was supporting Scott, Sam Slay echoed a tough ad Scott released tying McCollum to former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, who was arrested after being accused of funneling party money to himself by hiring his own company as a fundraising consultant for the party.
In the ad, which features footage of Greer introducing McCollum at an early campaign event, Scott says McCollum wanted to hide GOP financial records. Slay repeated the charges almost verbatim.
“He said I don’t know that his records need to be public,” he said. “I don’t know the details of that but the second statement was open government is not what we need, you can make more deals in secrecy. I don’t know if that’s a Freudian slip, (but) we do need open government. If you’re doing the right thing, why do you care?”
Slay said he was also bothered by McCollum’s inconsistency on whether Florida should have an Arizona-style illegal immigration law. McCollum initially said that he supported the law, but did not think requiring police to check immigrants’ IDs is much different from what they’re already allowed to do. He later released legislation similar to the Arizona law with Rep. William Synder, R-Stuart, after Scott criticized him for being soft on the issue.
“He said he was against the immigration law for Arizona, then he comes out (and says) ‘oh no I’m for that,’ when he clearly said he was against it, and it was his voice, it wasn’t somebody saying it in bad press,” Slay said.
Slay said he did not think Rick Scott was the perfect candidate for governor. He just thinks Scott is better for the job than McCollum, he said.
“I think probably one of the things we need is probably something different in Tallahassee,” he said. “The incumbents are not doing what they should be doing. It’s time to take a chance. Sometimes you look at candidates and say ‘how many of them would you walk through fire for?’ That’s not really the issue. The issue is who do you think is going to do you the most good.”
Slay said he liked Scott’s promise to forgo the $133,000 a year salary paid to the governor if he were elected. The multi-millionaire doesn’t really need the money, he said.
“He’s not going there for the money,” he said. “He’ll get in there and do something that he wants to do and then he’ll get out and move on. That’s one of the reasons I like him.”
In his speech, which Slay said Scott kept “short, sweet and to the point,” the first-time candidate did not address any of the issues Slay and Delikat – or McCollum – were talking about. He talked about jobs he held as a child and in the Navy, but said very little about either of the companies McCollum has tried to make into liabilities in the governor’s race.
“I started working at a young age. I had a TV Guide franchise by the time I was (in the) second grade, I delivered newspapers, I had a yard route,” he told the crowd. “I’ve built a variety of businesses. I’ve always been in business from a hospital company to the first health care cable channel to manufacturing companies. Everything I’ve done is figure out how to build companies and take care of customers and build private sector jobs. That’s what we need.”
After the speech, Scott said that he was not worried the election would be decided by the controversies that McCollum has raised repeatedly in the campaign.
“In the end, this election is going to be over who does the voter believe is going to help them get a job or keep their job and it’s an easy choice,” he said. “My opponent’s never created a private sector job, that’s all I’ve done all my life.”
By Keith Laing
The News Service Florida
Photo courtesy WEAR for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Featured Recipe: Chicken Fried Steak
August 22, 2010
This weekend’s featured recipe from Janet Tharpe is Chicken Fried Steak that the whole family with love. Serve with mashed potatoes or cornbread, and you have a real down-home meal your whole family with love.
To print today’s “Just a Pinch” recipe column, you can click the image below to load a printable pdf with a recipe card.
Unemployment Rate Up In Escambia, Santa Rosa
August 21, 2010
For the second month, the two-county employment rate in the Florida North Escambia area increased, while the news was much better in Escambia County, Ala., according to data released Friday.
Escambia County’s unemployment rate increased two-tenths of percent— up from 10.8 percent in June to 11 percent in July. That represented 305 jobs lost in a month for a total county unemployment of 15,715 people.
Santa Rosa County also recorded an increase in unemployment — from 9.7 in June to 10.8 percent in July. Santa Rosa County lost 776 jobs during the period, with a total of 7,880 persons unemployed.
The unemployment rate in Escambia County, Ala., fell over a full percentage point, from 12 percent in June to 10.9 percent in July. That represented a gain of 149 jobs, with 1,564 still unemployed.
Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, at 9.7 percent in July, declined from June’s rate of 10.3 percent and was below the year-ago rate of 10.5 percent.
Florida’s unemployment rate hit 11.5 percent in July, ending three straight months of decline even as annual job growth showed its first gain since 2007, state officials reported Friday.
With the economy widely seen as weakening again nationally, Florida was among 14 states where unemployment inched upward last month. Florida’s 11.5 percent jobless rate – up 0.1 percent from June – remains well above the national 9.5 percent unemployment level.
Slightly more than 1 million Floridians are out-of-work, the Agency for Workforce Innovation reported.
“As always is true in the trough of a recession, we get mixed messages,” said Rebecca Rust, AWI’s chief economist.
Even as unemployment climbed, the number of existing jobs in Florida showed its first annual increase since June 2007. The 7.2 million jobs in the state represented a boost of 2,700 jobs compared to a year earlier.
Florida’s job growth is better than what’s been seen nationally, with 52,000 jobs lost over the past year. Last month also was the first time since the recession kicked-in three years ago that Florida’s job growth levels surpassed those nationally.
University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said Friday it’s unlikely the country will slip into a second recession. But he projects growth will be slower through the first half of 2011 unless the federal government begins to focus on creating rather than saving jobs.
Snaith said the latest climb in jobless claims and Florida’s unemployment rate reflects widespread uncertainty over the financial effects of the federal health care overhaul and what may happen to federal stimulus efforts and tax cuts facing possible reinstatement.
“The mystique surrounding the recovery may have had companies on the fence about laying off employees, but the underlying weakness of this recovery has finally been realized,” he said.
State economists last month projected that Florida’s economy has hit bottom but appears likely to continue scraping along as the development industry and housing market still represents an anchor dragging down the state’s economy. With construction dried up, the state also has been staggered by what economists said was roughly 50,000 foreclosures a month combined with tightening credit markets.
Until last month, unemployment had been improving after hitting a 12.3 percent peak jobless rate in March. The federal government, health care industry, and membership associations and organizations continue to report increased hiring but construction, manufacturing, and financial and information services continue to shed positions.
“Even though we’ve had a loss of momentum over the past couple of months, the consensus for most forecasters is that this is a lull, but it won’t be a double-dip recession,” Rust said.
Indeed, there are some signs of life. State forecasters earlier this month increased the forecast of anticipated tax collections by $229 million for the current budget year – and another $260 million for next year, as stronger than expected corporate tax collections reflected rising profits and higher hospital fee collections offset still-slumping real estate revenue.
In Friday’s findings, AWI officials also pointed out that eight metropolitan areas in Florida have seen over-the-year job gains, including Gainesville, Bradenton-Sarasota, Pensacola and Tallahassee.
John Kennedy, The News Service Florida, contributed to this report
Century Care Center: Jamaican Party Mon! (With Photo Gallery)
August 21, 2010
The residents at Century Care Center enjoyed a Jamaican Party Friday afternoon. Caribbean food, tropical drinks, party music and a limbo contest highlighted the afternoon’s events.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery from the party, click here.
Last Minute School Shopping? Here Are The Supply Lists You Need
August 21, 2010
School starts Monday in Escambia County. Here are the school supply lists from each elementary school in the county, plus Ernest Ward and Ransom middle schools.
(High schools typically do not have a general supply list. Students are advised of their supply needs in each class.)
- Bratt Elementary
- Jim Allen Elementary
- Molino Park (Molino Park Wish List)
- Ernest Ward Middle
- Ransom Middle
- Bellview Elementary
- Beulah Elementary
- Blue Angels Elementary
- Brentwood Elementary
- Cook Elementary
- Cordova Park Elementary
- Ensley Elementary
- Ferry Pass Elementary
- Hallmark Elementary
- Hellen Caro Elementary
- Holm Elementary
- Lincoln Park Elementary
- Lipscomb Elementary (Lipscomb Wish List)
- Longleaf Elementary
- McArthur Elementary
- McMillan Pre-K
- Montclair Elementary
- Myrtle Grove Elementary
- Navy Point Elementary
- Oakcrest Elementary
- Pine Meadow Elementary
- Pleasant Grove Elementary
- Scenic Heights Elementary
- Semmes Elementary
- Sherwood Elementary
- Spencer Bibbs Elementary
- Suter Elementary
- Warrington Elementary
- Weis Elementary
- West Pensacola Elementary
- Yniestra Elementary
Sunny Days: Growing Sunflowers
August 21, 2010
Sunflowers not only make the garden beautiful but can also be used to bring the beauty of outdoors inside.
It may be towards the end of summer, but you can still plant sunflowers and enjoy them during the fall. In north Florida, try to complete sunflower planting by the third week in August. Depending on the variety, sunflowers will bloom about 55 to 75 days after planting – 60 days is a good average. Some sunflowers are sensitive to day length and may yield shorter plants and earlier bloom when planted in late summer. This corresponds to the reduction in daylight hours as summer progresses toward autumn.
To begin, choose cultivars that fit your landscape. There are now more sunflowers than just the seed bearing giants that many gardeners are familiar with. Just take a look at the gardening catalogs.
Sunflowers can be broadly divided into two types: those grown for production of edible seeds and those grown as ornamentals and cut flowers. Most gardeners will be interested in the ornamental sunflowers, also known as Helianthus annuus.
Sunflowers come in heights ranging from less than one foot to ten feet and also come in a wide range of flower colors. While brilliant yellow will always be popular, you can also choose from creamy white, bronze, mahogany, rusty red, burgundy and orange. Some types produce flowers with more than one color. The center disk of the sunflower also adds to the display and goes through color changes as the flower matures and seeds form.
Sunbright, Sunrich Lemon, Sunrich Orange, Soraya and Moulin Rouge are some that are recommended for Florida.
For best bouquet results, choose cultivars that are pollen-less to prevent pollen from shedding onto a tablecloth or other flowers in an arrangement.
If you want to grow sunflowers for the delicious, nutritious seeds, make sure you choose varieties bred for seed production, such as Mammoth Russian – also known as Mammoth, Russian Giant and Gray Stripe. These tall-growing sunflowers produce a single enormous flower at the top of the plant. To grow a really big seed head, apply general-purpose fertilizer when the flower head begins to appear. Just be sure to place them so that you can stake them if necessary.
Sunflowers are true to their name, they need to be grown in full sun. Prepare a sunflower bed as you would for planting most vegetables. They tolerate heat and dry conditions and almost any soil type. The pH preference is 6.5 to 7.5 and the addition of composted organic matter is beneficial.
Plant seeds about one-quarter inch deep directly into a prepared garden bed. It’s common to plant sunflowers into landscape beds, and many gardeners include a row of sunflowers in spring and fall vegetable gardens. After sowing the seeds, water the bed well and thesun water it as needed to keep the soil moist – even lightly every day if the weather is dry.
Sunflowers should be harvested in early morning before 10:00 a.m. It is best to cut the stems and place them in warm water right away for best results.
The versatility and variety of today’s sunflowers offer something for almost every garden and gardener. If you haven’t tried this plant lately, give it another look.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County.